Once upon a time, there was a little goldfish called Goldie that lived in a fish bowl, with three other different fishes. Even though his owner put him with three other fish, Goldie was still really lonely. You see, the three little fish get along, but Goldie never seems to fit in. Since they’re different species. One day, as if the owner seems to understand, he bought another goldfish called Molly. As Molly entered the bowl, he spotted Goldie. Goldie was swimming around the cave. Molly happily swam over, and invited him to play.

After Molly came, Goldie’s life was better. Whenever the owner gave food, Molly would always let Goldie have more food. When they wanted to play hide and seek, Molly wound let Goldie pick if he wants to be “it”. Molly was a caring, adventurous, friend. A true friend.

Ali was playing in the backyard with his sister, Ada. They were playing ball. Ada throws, Ali catches, then Ali throws, and Ada catches. Ali always played ball with Papa. Papa was a nice guy. But now…Ali didn’t want to think about it. He kept playing ball with his sister.

After 10 more minutes of playing ball, Ali took his sister into the house.Their house wasn’t that big. They lived in Pakistan, Muzaffarabad. “Want a banana, Ada?” Ali asked. “Sure!” Ada answered. They ate happily, until suddenly Ali heard a deep rumble. He looked around, but nothing in the house seems to make that sound. Then it suddenly stopped. Ali shrugged, and kept eating his banana.

That night Ali couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking of that deep rumbling noise that came earlier today. Ali had never heard that sound before. Or has he? It sounded like the ground was about to burst. Then a horrible thought hit him. No. It couldn’t be, it couldn’t be an earthquake. Ali shook his head. I’m going nuts. It’s only a rumbling sound that happened this morning. It’s nothing.

Ali woke up early that morning. He jumped out of bed and went to see what’s for breakfast. A brown banana. Again. Ali wasn’t that rich. In fact, he didn’t have any money at all! Its better that nothing. He thought as he examined the banana. He chewed thoughtfully. Mama was long gone. She was in heaven, like Papa. Ali was quietly eating his banana when the rumbling sound came again. Ali’s eyes got as big as saucers. The sound was much louder that last time. A few things on the ground even rattled. Ali looked around, horrified. Then the ground started moving up and down, like the ocean waves! The sound was louder that ever. Parts of the room started falling. Ali’s throat was dry. He didn’t dare to move a single muscle. He slowly crawled towards the door, and his mind was was thinking: Oh no, oh no, oh no! There’s an earthquake! Get out of the house! Get out of the house! His heart was beating so fast he could feel it. He was almost there when BANG! Something hit Ali and everything went black.

When Ali woke up, he was lying on the floor. The whole house had collapsed. His head was out the door, but his body was covered in wood. He slowly got up, but fell down again. Everything had happened so quickly, and his leg seems to hurt a lot. He turned on his side, and pulled the rest of his body out. His leg was bleeding. There wasn’t much blood, but he felt like he was on fire. Ali tried getting up, and winced. Ouch. Blood was coming down his leg. He bit his lip, and started walking around the house. Or more exact, hopping around the house.

The house looked like a mountain of wood. He hopped around and around, looking at it. Then a thought hit him: Where was Ada? Ali looked around, yelling her name. But there was no reply. Ali felt tears coming. Great. I lost Mama and Papa, and now Ada too? Ali felt alone. He was the only one left in his family. He sadly walked away, until he heard laughter. He listened more carefully. Yep. It was definitely laughter. A little girl’s laughter. Ada’s laughter.

Ali ran to the back of the wood pile. And there was Ada, laughing her head off. Ali looked at Ada, and somehow he also got caught in a fit of giggles. They were both laughing, and thinking the same thing. They were safe, safe from the Pakistan earthquake of 2005.

People actually used locks for fire exits, but not anymore. Why? I’ll tell you why.

There was a famous Chinese restaurant, and people loved to eat there. It was fancy and big and it has delicious food. It had many fire exit doors. But they where all locked. Only the people who work there has the key to open it.

One day, a fire happened at the Chinese restaurant, everyone was running around. People tripped over chairs, and plates and cups shattered on the floor. It was a mess. Many people ran to fire exits, but they were all locked. They looked for servants, but they were nowhere to be seen. They were trapped.

Well, I guess you knew what happened. Everyone had died in the fire. As this story spreads, people stopped using locks for fire exits.

And that, is the story of why people don’t use locks for fire exits anymore.